PHOENIXVILLE — Christian McCormick may believe in miracles, but admitted it was hard to believe Boyertown could come up with yet another miracle-like comeback against him Spring-Ford Rams Tuesday night in their Pioneer Athletic Conference Final Four semifinal at Washington Field.

“We knew (Boyertown) would come in hungry, and we knew they were in that playoff mode already,” McCormick said. “But we were pretty confident.”

And did they ever play with the assurance and poise of a two-time defending champion.

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The top-seeded Rams shot out to a 4-0 lead at the end of one period, and never relinquished the lead en route to a 20-12 win to earn a spot in Thursday’s final against Owen J. Roberts, an 11-7 winner over Methacton.

But time and time again, especially over the final six-plus minutes, they could’ve easily lost their composure, if not that confidence. The fourth-seeded Bears — who shocked Perkiomen Valley with back-to-back comeback victories last Saturday and this past Monday to get into the coveted Final Four field — mounted offensive after offensive to stay in contention. They were only two back with 10:08 remaining, too.

However, senior Ian Hare and the rest of the Spring-Ford defense around him blanked Boyertown the rest of the way … and did it with a man or two short for most of those final 10 minutes due to a slew of penalties.

“We were concerned about (Boyertown) because of the two big wins over Perkiomen Valley,” said the Towson-bound Hare. “We talked a lot about that during practice (Monday). We knew we had to keep up our intensity.

“Going up early was a big momentum thing for us. It was big, but we also knew we had to maintain it. It’s a 48-minute game.”

The Rams (14-4 overall) certainly finished what they started.

After Boyertown’s Chris Lees (team-high six goals) scored off an assist from Johnny Bennett to cap a three-goal burst and make it 14-12, that was it for the Bears. Hare, getting noticeable help from Kyle Hoffner and Troy Szostek, didn’t give his rivals much room to work with or time to get into any offensive rhythm. And goalie Matt Messerle (eight saves) managed to reject what few remaining shots the Bears had in them.

And the Rams’ countered with six unanswered goals — three each by Paul Major (six goals, five assists) and McCormick (five goals, one assist) to put it out of reach.

“We knew this would be a tough game,” Boyertown head coach Geoff Davidson said after his team saw its four-game winning streak snapped and slipped to 10-8 overall. “We had a lot of momentum coming in, but Spring-Ford is a different animal.

“We come right out and we’re down 4-0. That is not ideal, but we still battled back. We had that momentum and the two-man advantage … everyone was pumped up. But we didn’t take advantage of it, and when you squander opportunities like that if deflates you. We just couldn’t get over the hump.”

“(Boyertown) plays hard,” said Spring-Ford head coach Kevin Donnelly. “The (play) so hard-nosed all the time. They had a couple of flurries there, and Lees and (Tyler) Fuhrman tried to put the team on their back. Fortunately we were able to get the momentum back.”

At the right time, too.

“Our defense came up big when it had to,” Donnelly added. “Ian Hare is our guy down there, too.”

“I do enjoy the role of being the guy my teammates rely on,” Hare said. “But defense is a team thing. We have to work as one unit. (Messerle) played well, too. We just feed off each other.”

The Rams’ offense dished out its share of damage, too. Zachary Hare, Cody Davis and Casey Pettine each had two goals, and D.J. Young and Alex Vagnozzi (two assists) contributed one apiece. The Rams also benefited from the outstanding play of freshman midfielder Matt Della Croce, who won 27 of 34 faceoffs — taking one himself downfield and delivering a goal that created a 14-9 spread prior to Boyertown’s three-goal burst.

But Boyertown, thanks to Lees and superb play by Fuhrman (four goals, one assist), never let it get out of hand until those waning moments.

“We played the way we’re supposed to play in the beginning,” Donnelly said. “Then we started scrambling. We were giving up goals, and started pressing a bit.”

“Falling behind like we did didn’t help,” Davidson said. “Then it became punch and counter-punch. We just couldn’t get the knockout punch, though.”

Spring-Ford delivered that.

NOTES

Spring-Ford defeated Boyertown twice in the regular season, 17-6 in the both teams’ PAC-10 openers on March 27, and 20-8 on April 17. … Boyertown’s remaining goals came from Chris Stutzman and Michael Palladino (one assist), while Bennett finished with two assists. Teammate Austin Mutter had 17 saves in goal. … The Rams out-shot the Bears, 43-32.